News in brief - Dec. 20, 2004

JCAHO offers principles on quality pay - HealthSouth aims for legal settlement - HCA grows in outpatient market

JCAHO offers principles on quality pay

Citing a need for consistency and a desire to see transparent pay-for-performance programs that improve the quality of care, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations recently published a list of principles to guide the development of quality initiatives.

Some of the commission's principles include: a mix of financial and nonfinancial incentives; consistency with national or regional incentive programs to reduce competing measurements; using credible methods to judge physicians; and periodic assessment of not only program goals, but also the clinical effectiveness of the program itself.

The full list of principles is available online jcaho.org/news+room/news+release+archives/jcaho_112204_principles.htm.

HealthSouth aims for legal settlement

HealthSouth Corp. hopes to reach a settlement with the federal government in the next few weeks to resolve claims stemming from a massive accounting scandal.

Jay Grinney, HealthSouth's chief executive, told investors on Dec. 2 that the company was hopeful it could reach a settlement that would allow it to stay afloat.

"We hope to get that resolved by the end of the year. We're not promising, but that's our goal," he said. "And if we can do that, obviously our ability to pay is going to be of paramount importance, and we hope we will be able to come up with a payment amount and structure that will allow us to go forward."

HealthSouth has been accused of overstating earnings by at least $2.6 billion from 1996 to 2003 in a scheme to meet Wall Street expectations. Nineteen former executives have been charged with crimes since the scandal first broke in March 2003. Ousted founder Richard M. Scrushy is scheduled to go on trial Jan. 5, 2005, for his role in the plot.

HCA grows in outpatient market

Hospital operator HCA Inc. says it will continue its efforts to expand in the outpatient services market.

In January, the company established an outpatient services group to oversee and improve its existing outpatient services and develop new opportunities. Since then, the group has developed new business, primarily in surgery and imaging, completing transactions for 11 centers in deals valued at nearly $24 million.

The Nashville, Tenn.-based company, which now operates 91 ambulatory surgery centers in 16 states, estimates that it will acquire or develop five to 10 surgery centers and 15 to 25 imaging centers in the next year.